


Revelations

by Jen425



Series: For The Republic [9]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, Anakin doesn’t know, Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, Sheev is a creep, and Anakin is questioning everything again, but that’s not entirely bad, how much was Palpatine’s fault?, the Big Reveal (not)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-02-27 15:09:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13250820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/pseuds/Jen425
Summary: Palpatine turned around, smiling."Ah! Anakin,” he said (and Anakin’s heart froze).“It’s good to see you again, my boy.”





	Revelations

**Author's Note:**

> We all knew this scene was coming.
> 
> (Parentheses are a representation of shielded thoughts during the scene with Palpatine.) Although he’s always got at least five shields up around even the very edge of his mind. Part of it is to hide what’s actually going on in his mind from everyone, and part of it is from how terrifying it was when Dooku ripped his mind to pieces.
> 
> (Why did I do this to him?)

“You sent for me, Chancellor?” Anakin said, wondering what the man he considered a father could want. It had been two weeks since he'd been released from the hall of healing, and, barring unforeseen events, (which Anakin was finding himself _increasingly_ tired of) he was back on the battlefield in another week.

 

And, despite the fact that he’d spent every _second_ he'd been able to get away from Obi-Wan for searching, he hadn’t found a thing! Nothing, not even a vague sense of “wrong”!

 

Palpatine turned around, smiling.

 

"Ah! Anakin,” he said (and Anakin’s heart _froze_ ).

 

“It’s good to see you again, my boy.”

 

( _Golden eyes. Horrible lies. Endless pain. The SUIT…_

 

Palpatine is the Sith Lord.)

 

Anakin forced a smirk onto his face.

 

(He can’t show hesitation for even a _moment_.)

 

(Palpatine is the Sith Lord.)

 

“The Council is sending us back out next Primeday, to relieve the troops on Felucia,” he said. Then, realizing that, as Chancellor, Palpatine already knows this fact.

 

“Of course, you know that already.”

 

(The Chancellor is the Sith Lord.)

 

Palpatine nodded, smiling ( _fake_ ) at Anakin.

 

"Yes, I've heard,” he said, then, concern written all over his face, (and Force Signature. It was almost enough to have Anakin start wondering... no. This man was pure evil.) he asked, “Tell me, Anakin, are you truly alright? Dooku had you for months, after all.”

 

(Palpatine is Sidious.)

 

Anakin frowned, letting his very-real contempt for the Jedi Council show in his face.

 

"I'm alright enough to send back out. My Padawan was, too."

 

(Palpatine made him _kill_ his Padawan... or maybe that was truly his own choice. He will never know...)

 

Palaptine nodded.

 

“Yes, I heard about that,” he said, “I hope you know, my dear boy, that I had nothing to do with that decision.”

 

(Oh Palpatine had _definitely_ planned _that_  part.)

 

Anakin growled. (The anger showing through his shields thankfully vague enough to keep Palpati- _Sidious_ from figuring out true target.)

 

“Of course not! No wonder she didn’t try to reach me! She had plenty of problems of her own!”

 

(Palpatine must have planned _everything_.)

 

Palpatine looked surprised.

 

( _Lies_.)

 

"My dear boy, did nobody even attempt to find you?”

 

(They’d wanted to.)

 

“No.”

 

(Palpatine planned the war.)

 

“Not even your Master?”

 

“He was on a mission. He had no reason to imagine what had happened.”

 

Or so Anakin told himself.

 

(Palpatine knew how to get to him, blast it! He had to be _stronger_ than this.)

 

Palpatine nodded.

 

“Well I don’t presume to understand, but it _is_ the Jedi Way to avoid attachments.”

 

Anakin rolled his eyes, carefully letting a stray thought through his shields.

 

_The Jedi don’t even know the difference between love and attachments._

 

(He did, though, and what he had for the people around him was most definitely _not_ love.)

 

“Trust me, I know.”

 

(Palpatine planned the _Naboo Occupation_. Palpatine planned the _war_. Palpatine planned Anakin’s Fall… how much had he planned Anakin’s Fall? ( _“I... I love...”_ ))

 

The conversation continued like that for some time, Anakin talking about his life and Palpatine sowing seeds of doubt. (Had Palpatine _always_ been this obvious?) Anakin almost sighs with relief when he has to clear out for a meeting Palpatine absolutely had to attend, and his pace was probably slightly faster than normal as soon as he was out of sight of Palpatine.

 

He’s not quite sure how he stays semi-calm on his way back to the temple, but he doesn’t crash, and he manages to make it back to his and Obi-Wan's rooms without his panic leaking out into the Force, so...

 

(Palpatine is the Sith Lord. Palpatine is responsible for the Naboo occupation, the war, the Clones, the death, the distrust in the Jedi, and, if he isn’t stopped...

 

The destruction of the Jedi and the Republic.

 

Palpatine has planned _everything_ , slowly gaining power over both the Republic and… _himself_. Just _one_ conversation, and Anakin has an idea of just what this man has already taken from him. _Force!_ He knew the truth and Palpatine was _still_ casting doubts…

 

(Why hadn’t Obi-Wan _listened_ when he’d called out? There had been _nothing_! Not even the slightest brush of his Master's familiar presence, a presence that he’d thought would _always_ be there!

 

No! Palpatine is a liar! Obi-Wan loved him more than anything else! He’d seen it with his own two eyes.)

 

...How much of his Fall had been planned?

 

_A flash of red and blue lightsabers and a terrified face._

 

_“Only I have the power to save your wife from certain death.”_

 

 _He shouldn’t be alive. Padme is_ dead _. It all his own_ blasted _fault..._

 

_His mother’s presence, so long a faint source of comfort... gone._

 

...How much of this was Palpatine's fault? How much was his own?

 

...How much of this is he _still_ capable of, even now that Palpatine's influence is gone?

 

...He doesn’t know.

 

(He knows what he has to do, his certainty unwavering... but, if he kills Palpatine for his betrayal, is he any better than Vader?

 

No, he definitely is...

 

He has to be.

 

(It’s here, right here, that he has a moment of horrible moment of understanding, a realization that he’s completely and utterly _alone._ Ahsoka’s too young, Obi-Wan and Padme care too much about him, his men have a kill switch, (that he knows, now, can be operated by Palpat- _Sidious_ at any time) And _Palpatine_...

 

He’d thought, during his time with Dooku, that he’d never felt so alone. By comparison, however, that was nothing.

 

Here he was, surrounded by the people he wished he could love... and he was more alone than ever.))

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this is during the time when Anakin is pushing his issues To the side, (although it doesn’t take much to bring them back) so Anakin seems, once again, way saner than he actually is. Also, he thinks a lot of things during the conversation that he goes back through when he’s alone. That’s because he really needs to sit down and think about them, rather than just letting them cross his brain for a second, not to mention how everything is still just sinking in, and he can’t quite grasp everything properly just yet.
> 
> And, yes, Primeday is a Cannon day. Felucia is where Aalya is when Order 66 goes out, and that conflict seems to have been going on since AT LEAST season 3 of TCW, (Padawan Lost arc) so I thought it would work as a good starting place for the 501st's next deployment.
> 
> find me on tumblr [@flaim-ita](https://flaim-ita.tumblr.com/)
> 
> (Also, I may be making fun of the people who think that even someone with absolutely NO knowledge of SW could figure out who Sidious is. I would like to remind people that WE KNEW THAT PALPATINE WAS AN EVIL FORCE-SENSITIVE GOING IN! (My Mom made me see the OT first. It wasn’t until years later that I saw the Prequels, and I actually had to get a recap of the OT before I figured it out.) (It’s really obvious if you already know.) (The characters did NOT already know.))


End file.
